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Cruise Report
Cornish Crabber Club - Solent Rally 2015
Saturday 20th June - Beaulieu to Yarmouth
The SW winds continued to prevail, and indeed were gently rising in strength. With this outlook in mind some were beginning to consider reefing mainsails. We had an afternoon departure set from Bucklers Hard, so there was plenty of time for fettling and sorting out stuff. After Nigel Anderson on Molly had begun to reef his main, others took an interest in this operation, which he clearly had down to a fine art. Within a few minutes Nigel was giving a Master Class in reefing techniques particularly for the C26, but his instruction extended to anyone who wanted to take advantage of his skill set. I for one was very grateful, as I had not yet reefed in anger. I was soon to be doing just that!
As we were preparing to leave Beaulieu the crew member on Mellow, Ricky Ferguson, gave us all a demonstration of the suppleness in his hips by leaving one leg on the boat from which he was casting off, and the other on his boat Mellow. We watched in wonder as his “splits” became wider and wider. This was incredible - could it go on any further? Well actually no. In a matter of seconds Ricky’s delicate demonstration ended in disaster, with a splash and a bang or was it the other way round Ricky ended up in the river, and took his early afternoon bath! Joking apart, it looked a nasty fall. The Bucklers Hard staff were quickly at the scene in their dory, and hauled Ricky out of the water….without ceremony! Apart from a bit of damaged pride and a bruised hip he was none the worse for the experience. Far be it from me to proffer advice on this area of seamanship, but I think it better to have both one’s feet on the boat one is on, rather than splitting them between two boats!
The SW winds continued to prevail, and indeed were gently rising in strength. With this outlook in mind some were beginning to consider reefing mainsails. We had an afternoon departure set from Bucklers Hard, so there was plenty of time for fettling and sorting out stuff. After Nigel Anderson on Molly had begun to reef his main, others took an interest in this operation, which he clearly had down to a fine art. Within a few minutes Nigel was giving a Master Class in reefing techniques particularly for the C26, but his instruction extended to anyone who wanted to take advantage of his skill set. I for one was very grateful, as I had not yet reefed in anger. I was soon to be doing just that!
As we were preparing to leave Beaulieu the crew member on Mellow, Ricky Ferguson, gave us all a demonstration of the suppleness in his hips by leaving one leg on the boat from which he was casting off, and the other on his boat Mellow. We watched in wonder as his “splits” became wider and wider. This was incredible - could it go on any further? Well actually no. In a matter of seconds Ricky’s delicate demonstration ended in disaster, with a splash and a bang or was it the other way round Ricky ended up in the river, and took his early afternoon bath! Joking apart, it looked a nasty fall. The Bucklers Hard staff were quickly at the scene in their dory, and hauled Ricky out of the water….without ceremony! Apart from a bit of damaged pride and a bruised hip he was none the worse for the experience. Far be it from me to proffer advice on this area of seamanship, but I think it better to have both one’s feet on the boat one is on, rather than splitting them between two boats!
Friday 19th June - Cowes to Beaulieu (Continued)
As the BBQ drew to a close we were entertained by our surprise musician, Mark, who was crew on Alice Pellow. His superior guitar skills and his rendering of songs from Cold Play to the Beatles had crews singing along with their voices in fine form assisted by their consumption of beer and wine. We thought it was terrific. I just hope others in the area did too! As darkness fell (late) we made our way back to the boats, and were confronted with the picture of two well inebriated gentlemen taking a skinny dip in the river. Not a pretty sight! The BBQ memories will last. The skinny dippers I hope to forget quite quickly!
As the BBQ drew to a close we were entertained by our surprise musician, Mark, who was crew on Alice Pellow. His superior guitar skills and his rendering of songs from Cold Play to the Beatles had crews singing along with their voices in fine form assisted by their consumption of beer and wine. We thought it was terrific. I just hope others in the area did too! As darkness fell (late) we made our way back to the boats, and were confronted with the picture of two well inebriated gentlemen taking a skinny dip in the river. Not a pretty sight! The BBQ memories will last. The skinny dippers I hope to forget quite quickly!
We left for Yarmouth shortly after 1300hrs, most of us reefed with one reef, some with two. The wind was blowing F5 in the Solent. There was a moment during the short crossing that the wind eased a tad, and I decided to throw out my second reef. This proved to be fine for this day, but tomorrow was another story. We all had a short sharp blowy crossing to Yarmouth and ended up being berthed in the S Eastern corner of the Harbour, again with a lot of rafting up and all facing inwards.
The Royal Solent Yacht Club was our host Club for this evening and yet another delicious meal was prepared for us all. A relatively early night was had, as tomorrow would bring the trip to Poole to the fore, although a pm departure would be in order.
The Royal Solent Yacht Club was our host Club for this evening and yet another delicious meal was prepared for us all. A relatively early night was had, as tomorrow would bring the trip to Poole to the fore, although a pm departure would be in order.
